The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-08-29
Foods and Feeding.

realize the Importance OF variety In
food for stock, and the necessity OF
adapting the food to the wants OF the
animal. Is evident to any one who WILL
take the pains to ascertain the COMMON
practice of the farmers Of his locaiitn
I think that nine-tenths Of the hogs 10
tho corn belt are reared on corn, and I
have long since concluded that tho
great losses from disease can be &C
counted for from this cause alone. /
know that some writer's ridicule this
idea as within, but ridicuie Is not
proof. Please notice that I do not say
that corn Is not fit to feed hogs, or that
change in the practice Of raising
pigs on corn would at once bring ex-
emption from cholera, for I recognize
that cholera--so called-is q germ dis
ease, and there are farms and neigh
borhoods so inoculated with it that
every attempt to restock them with
hogs is failure. Besides the stock
from which we most breed has come
from long line of ancestry of corn
fed hogs, and 1t is reasonable to suppose
that their vitality has been reduced by
this treatment. Neither do object to
corn for fattening hogs. In many parts
of the country there is no other food
SO cheap, or that will give as good results
as corn, and think it is safe food for
hogs that have been fed for the first
few months on scientific diet
What do mean by q scientific
dietp l mean one which contains
more of the elements that build bone
and muscle, and less of the heat and
fat producing qualities. Why farmers
do not feed their young pigs more
bran, oats and oil meal, is mystery to
me. There is no doubt that a given
increase in weight can be gained at a
less expense of the foods than on corn
alone, and that pig fed five or six
months on ration in which these foods
formed the prominent part, would
when put on full corn feed, gain more
rapidly than one that had been reared
on corn. I called on neighbor this
morning who has 81 March pigs, and
he is feeding corn exclusively, with the
exception of what slop the house fur
nishes. / said to him, "would it not
pay you to buy some bran and oil meal
for the slop ?" He answered, 81 be-
lieve that it would be better for the
pigs, but bran is selling at SIG ton
and oil meal at $1.50 per hundred. and
I cannot afford to buy at such prices"
/ showed him that two bushels of corn
would pay for 100 pounds Of bran, or
four bushels for 100 pounds of oil meal,
and expressed the belief that so BUSH
els of corn sold and the proceeds in
vested in these foods. would give o
greater gain il fed in connection with
the other 30 bushels of corn, than to
feed one hundred bushels of corn alone
to them, besides putting their d.
gestive organs into q better and
healthier condition for future feeding.
On returning homo l poured two gal
Ions of boiling water into slop bucket
and weighed out pound Of oil meal
old process stirred into 1t, and
found that 1t thickened it into cruel
with body like thick cream. and at a
cost of one-half cent day pig could
DO fed nearly three quarts of this Cruel.
I cannot tell what the relative value of
this cruel is to milk, but it seems to
me to more nearly resemble it in its
properties and effects than any other
food. Some carefully conducted ex-
periments have shown that milk alone
fed to pigs gave gain OF one pound
Of pork for each seven to nine
quarts of milk. making the feeding
value Of milk one-half cent or more per
quart according, to the price Of pork.
Five quarts of this Cruel will cost less
than one cent at $50 per ton for oil meal.
The plan l have adopted for growing
pigs is to feed but little corn for the first
five months. Iprefer oats for the grain
feed and soak it twelve hours before feed
ing. but do not grind it. The slop 1
make of bran and oil meal and feed 1t
slightly soured. am very careful never
TO let the fermentation reach tho acid
stage, and so mix fresh slop every day.
1 empty the barrel at the night feed.
put In fresh bran and m cal and wet 1t,
using some milk with the water. but do